People consider the immediate pain of rising inflation a tax on their wallet, a warning to House and Senate Democrats as they write up over 40 new taxes to pay for President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion wish list.
In a new survey provided to Secrets, Zogby Analytics found near-universal agreement that rising prices for daily goods are hitting voters.
The Zogby poll, which surveyed an unusually large group of 4,298 likely voters, found that 71% agree that higher prices are “another ‘tax’ on Americans.” Just 19% disagreed in the survey, which had a 1.5% margin of error.
Of note, Biden’s base agreed, including 64% of Democrats, 71% of blacks, 71% of urban and suburban voters, and 66% of younger voters.
Inflation has remained high. The government reported yesterday that August prices jumped 5.3% from a year ago.
In his analysis, pollster Jonathan Zogby said the results should be a wake-up call for Democrats spinning up the new taxes. He said that while Biden has pledged not to levy taxes on those earning $400,000 or less, voters already think inflation under the president is a tax.
“It will be interesting to see how these attitudes among voters play out in the near future as Democrats further unveil their new tax plan, which could establish higher corporate and personal tax rates than in Communist China. Americans clearly do not like taxes when they hit their grocery shopping or entertainment budgets,” he said.
“Inflation is considered a tax by the public and even though voters support higher taxes on the rich, if these same policies and taxes are eating away at paychecks and grocery bills, the Democrats ‘tax the rich’ policies might come back to haunt them in the 2022 midterm election,” Zogby added.
